A good ad campaign is like a road trip. You need a data-driven but flexible strategy to act as your roadmap (or, more realistically, your smartphone navigation app), and you need your high impact visuals— your vehicle— to deliver your message at the exact moment it matters most. You can’t have one without the other.
We’ve shared our best practices for developing campaign strategies for Programmatic Display and Facebook ads. Now we’ll bring it all together with recommendations for the ad creative itself through an overview of the latest branding trends with a focus on messaging, visual design, and format.
Companies are trending away from product specific ads and focusing on the value that the brand can bring to consumers. By making a connection with consumers through relatable, emotional ads, brands emphasize the brand identity instead of the product itself. Companies like Instagram and Budweiser (see below) have crafted emotional ads that draw viewers in and connect to them on a human level. Acts of heroism, simple kindness, and even humor make these ads personal and real.
As a research tool, the internet can’t be beat. But sometimes the way information is visually conveyed can erode its utility. Make sure your ads are cutting through the online noise— and not contributing to it— by following these design tips:
As we’ve noted in past blog posts and webinars, certain formats for programmatic display and paid social ads yield better results than others. As a general rule of thumb, dynamic creatives that utilize video, slideshows, or image carousels outperform static images.
More recently, data collection has enabled companies to serve ads with creative customized in real time based on factors such as location, demographics, and even the current weather. In the example below, Pantene was able to serve an ad that directly referenced the current weather and propose their product as a real-time solution to the customer. We expect to see more custom ads like this as businesses leverage the first and second-party data available to them.
Source: P&G: Your Local Haircast
For more on paid ad strategy, watch the full Dos and Don’ts of High Impact Ad Creative webinar or reach out to our specialists at info@cybba.com.